Wild hoping Fleetwood get on a roll in 'best competition in the world'

Fleetwood Town manager Pete Wild faces Barnet in the FA Cup first round

For someone who says he owes his managerial career to an FA Cup giant killing act in only his third game in the dugout, Pete Wild admits his record since has probably been best watched "from behind a sofa".

Following a remarkable 2-1 win as caretaker manager nearly seven years ago with Oldham against Premier League Fulham, Wild has failed to make it back to the third round in five subsequent attempts with Halifax and Barrow.

In one of those in 2020-21, Halifax failed to even reach the first round proper, getting knocked out by South Shields in qualifying.

Such a record might see Wild approach Saturday's first-round tie against fellow League Two side Barnet with a degree of dread yet nothing could be further from the truth for Fleetwood Town's manager.

"It is the best competition in the world and I absolutely love FA Cup weekends," Wild told BBC Radio Lancashire as he looked ahead to Saturday's clash at Highbury. "It is the benchmark, the pillar of English football."

From travelling fan to dugout in three games

Pete Wild celebrates Oldham's 2019 third-round win over Fulham at Craven Cottage

If Wild's first step was impressive it was all a bit of a shock given he had been planning to travel by train to Craven Cottage "with the lads" to watch from the stands.

When Oldham manager Frankie Bunn lost his job at the then League Two side on Boxing Day 2018, Wild, who had been interim youth team coach, was asked to step in as caretaker.

After beating Port Vale and Notts County in his first two matches, he was given a shot at Fulham.

"I'm 34-years old and had no idea about first-team football and was propelled into an environment that I probably wasn't ready for but won two out of two and jokingly said to the owner 'if I win two out of two can I have Fulham away?'," said the Fleetwood boss.

"He came in on the Tuesday before the game and said 'I'm a man of my word and you can take Fulham on Sunday'. I was going down with the boys, I had a ticket on the train and having a day out watching the team at Fulham and ultimately I turned out as manager."

Wild's luck ran out in the next round where Oldham lost 2-1 at Doncaster and his first spell as caretaker ended when he made way for Paul Scholes's short spell in the dugout before taking the reins again in March.

"The sad thing is my FA Cup record since that day has not been great to say the least," added Wild.

"Anybody would probably want to hide behind the back of the sofa if they looked at my cup record post Fulham away.

"But I love the FA Cup and everything that goes with it. I will be giving it 100% the respect it deserves and we want to do well in this competition."

Barnet will have similar ambitions in a competition that can deliver a financial shot in the arm for lower league clubs - first-round winners earn £47,750 in prize money - and Wild is taking nothing for granted before the first round showdown despite beating the Bees 2-0 on the opening day of the season.

"There is a marked difference to what Barnet are doing to what they were doing on the first day of the season, they are a far more pragmatic team now," said Wild.

"They have learned the league and learned it quickly and you can see that by the points that they have picked up since they played us.

"We are not getting ahead of ourselves. First of all we have to navigate Barnet and if we are lucky enough to do that we've got a second round tie. But if we are still in it at the turn of the year then absolutely fantastic."